Grandmother to face firing squad for cocaine smuggling

Lindsay June Sandiford of Britain leaves a holding cell after her trial at a court in Denpasar on the Indonesian resort island of Bali on Tuesday.

By:Jennifer QuinnStaff Reporter, Published on Tue Jan 22 2013

Bali is a magnet for sunseekers from gloomier climes, souls searching for karmic paradise and surfers hunting great waves. Renowned for its warm hospitality, the Indonesian island also known for its decidedly cool welcome for drug smugglers.

There are more than 40 foreigners on death row for drug offences in Indonesia — and Tuesday, Lindsay June Sandiford, a 56-year-old grandmother originally from northeastern England, joined them.

After her arrest in May, Sandiford was paraded in front of cameras with nearly four kilograms of cocaine, worth $2.5 million dollars, on a table in front of her.

She sat slumped, head bowed, shielding her face with her hand. Video showed that Sandiford adopted the same pose Tuesday in the Balinese courtroom as a panel of judges passed the death sentence.

Sandiford had said she was threatened by a gang who were going to harm her family if she didn’t carry out their wishes. Prosecutors asked for a 15-year sentence, which would likely have been served in Bali’s overcrowded and dangerous Kerobokan Prison, which is home to other foreigners convicted under Indonesia’s tough drug laws.

“We found no reason to lighten her sentence,” said Amser Simanjuntak, the head of the judicial panel.

The U.K.-based charity Reprieve, which has campaigned on Sandiford’s behalf, said she had no money for lawyers or defence witnesses — or even the food and water she must buy while in prison.

“She is clearly not a drug kingpin,” Harriet McCulloch, an investigator with the charity, said in a statement. “She has co-operated fully with the Indonesian authorities, but has been sentenced to death while the gang operating in the U.K., Thailand and Indonesia remain free to target other vulnerable people.”

Jennifer Fleetwood, a lecturer at the University of Kent who has researched the issue of women involved in drug trafficking, said Sandiford would have been a good target for gangs because she was vulnerable.

“Having reviewed extracts from Lindsay’s medical records I know that Lindsay has a history of mental health issues,” Fleetwood said in a statement, posted to Reprieve’s website. “This may have unfortunately made her an attractive target for threats, manipulation and coercion.”

In London, Foreign Office Minister Hugo Swire told the House of Commons that the British government had raised Sandiford’s case with the Indonesian authorities.

Sandiford has two levels of appeal to pursue, Swire noted — and should they fail, she could ask Indonesia’s President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono for clemency.

But the odds of success appear low. According to the Lowy Institute, an Australian think-tank that has examined the issue of Indonesian drug convictions, once a death sentence has been has been upheld by a judicial review — the last legal step — “the chances of the sentence being commuted at the clemency stage are slim.”

Indonesia’s last executions were in 2008, when 10 people were put to death. Since 1998, five foreigners have been executed, all for drug crimes, the Lowy Institute report said.

Three other people have already been convicted in Sandiford’s case, and a verdict is expected next week in a fourth case.

According to Amnesty International U.K., Sandiford is the second British national to be sentenced to death in Indonesia in recent months. The charity said Gareth Cashmore also received the death penalty in October for drug offences.

A dozen U.K. nationals who have either been sentenced to death or are facing execution around the world, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said.

Canada’s Department for Foreign Affairs and International Trade said that it is aware that 1,719 Canadians are being detained abroad, and that 37 per cent of those have been charged with drug-related offences.

Citing privacy and security concerns, a spokesperson declined to say how many Canadians are facing execution.